In the trofeo Mallorca I wrapped up victory for Florencio with two 3rd places, Florencio also took the Mountains and Points jersey
1 Xavier Florencio RED BULL CYCLING TEAM 17h36'12 Player
2 Alessandro Proni QUICK STEP - INNERGETIC + 1'11
3 Jason McCartney RED BULL CYCLING TEAM + 1'22 Player
4 Angel Vicioso RELAX - GAM + 2'10
5 Michael Boogerd RABOBANK + 2'18
6 José Azevedo BENFICA + 2'19
7 David Arroyo CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 2'40
8 David Bernabéu FUERTAVENTURA - CANARIAS + 2'59
9 Nicki Sørensen TEAM CSC s.t.
10 Samuel Sánchez Gonzalez EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI s.t.
11 Dirk Müller T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
12 Diego Gallego VIÑA MAGNA - CROPU + 3'20
13 Mauricio Ardila RABOBANK + 3'22
14 Constantino Zaballa CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
15 Koos Moerenhout RABOBANK s.t.
16 Pablo Lastras CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
17 Santiago Perez Fernandez RELAX - GAM s.t.
18 Paolo Bettini QUICK STEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
19 Eladio Jiménez Sanchez KARPIN GALICIA s.t.
20 Francisco Mancebo RELAX - GAM s.t.
21 Joaquin Rodriguez Oliver CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
22 Franco Pellizotti LIQUIGAS s.t.
23 Luis Perez Rodriguez ANDALUCIA - CAJASUR s.t.
24 Fabian Cancellara RED BULL CYCLING TEAM + 4'04 Player
25 Andrea Moletta GEROLSTEINER + 4'13
26 Karl Menzies RED BULL CYCLING TEAM + 4'15 Player
Transfer News
Red Bull Cyclign Team have announced over the past few days that they have signed 7 uncontracted riders.
Jorg Jaksche and Oscar Sevilla are strong climbers who have been brought in to aid Schleck and Brajkovic at the grand tours.
Chris Jongewaard is an Aussie who can climb a little but will just be used as a domestique.
Jukka Vastaranta is a promising young finish rider.
Saulius Ruskys, Juri Metluchenko and Gordon Fraser are all slight-sprinters.
The team would focus around Voeckler and Florencio as I gave many their first start for Red Bull.
Cassidy went off in an early break, and Rohregger joined a chase group halfway in. As we came to the last secion of climb, seeing Boonen struggling Voeckler attacked (Florencio remained). Voeckler went past the bulk escapees and joined Baguet in pursuit of Chavanel and Arroyo. Chavanael attacked at the end to take victory while Voeckler had a hard fought sprint with Baguet but Baguest beat him so he had to make to with 3rd. Florencio came home 11th. The rest just lacked fitness although Ruskys was very disappointing - coming last.
1 Sylvain Chavanel COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE 5h01'31
2 Serge Baguet QUICK STEP - INNERGETIC + 59
3 Thomas Voeckler RED BULL CYCLING TEAM s.t. Player
4 David Arroyo CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 1'26
5 Mickaël Delage FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 2'07
6 Sébastien Duret GROUPE SPORTIF BRETAGNE - JEAN FLOC'H s.t.
7 Francesco Bellotti CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
8 Stefano Garzelli ACQUA & SAPONE - CAFFÈ MOKAMBO s.t.
9 William Walker RABOBANK s.t.
10 Christophe Le Mével CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
11 Xavier Florencio RED BULL CYCLING TEAM s.t. Player
12 Stéphane Goubert AG2R PRÉVOYANCE s.t.
13 Martin Elmiger AG2R PRÉVOYANCE + 3'31
14 Luca Paolini LIQUIGAS s.t.
15 Jérôme Pineau COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
16 Robert Gesink RABOBANK s.t.
17 Markus Eichler UNIBET.COM s.t.
18 Bram Tankink QUICK STEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
19 Cristian Moreni COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
20 Vladimir Efimkin CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
21 Andrea Tonti QUICK STEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
22 Carlos Barredo QUICK STEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
23 Frédéric Gabriel LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER s.t.
24 Thomas Rohregger RED BULL CYCLING TEAM s.t. Player
25 Tom Boonen QUICK STEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
26 Patrice Halgand CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
27 Leonardo Giordani AURUM HOTELS s.t.
28 Eddy Ratti AURUM HOTELS s.t.
29 Antonio Quadranti AURUM HOTELS s.t.
30 Cédric Vasseur QUICK STEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
31 Timothy Cassidy RED BULL CYCLING TEAM s.t. Player
With Cancellara, Millar, Schleck, Brajkovic, McCann, Sulzberger, McCartney and Fraser hopefully i can be strong here, although most are not fully fit.
Prologue
I was decieved by the flat profile in this as its quite steep towards the end, I managed some good results though.
1 David Zabriskie TEAM CSC 6'54
2 Jens Voigt TEAM CSC + 1
3 Fabian Cancellara RED BULL CYCLING TEAM + 4 Player
4 Ben Day NAVIGATORS INSURANCE CYCLING TEAM + 5
5 David McCann RED BULL CYCLING TEAM + 6 Player
6 José Luis Rubiera DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM s.t.
7 Remmert Wielinga SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 7
8 Jason McCartney RED BULL CYCLING TEAM + 9 Player
9 Janez Brajkovic RED BULL CYCLING TEAM + 10 Player
10 Nicki Sørensen TEAM CSC + 11
11 David Millar RED BULL CYCLING TEAM + 12 Player
12 Pavel Padrnos DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM s.t.
13 Piotr Mazur SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 13
14 Brian Vandborg DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM s.t.
15 László Bodrogi CRÉDIT AGRICOLE + 15
16 Steven Cummings DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM s.t.
17 Stefan Schreck T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
18 Rubens Bertogliati SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 16
19 Vladimir Bileka DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM s.t.
20 Leonardo Piepoli SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
21 Tom Stamsnijder GEROLSTEINER s.t.
22 Johan Vansummeren PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
23 Karsten Kroon TEAM CSC + 17
24 Bernard Van Ulden NAVIGATORS INSURANCE CYCLING TEAM s.t.
25 Kasper Klostergaard TEAM CSC + 18
26 Sven Krauss GEROLSTEINER s.t.
27 Wim Vansevenant PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
28 Stefan Schumacher GEROLSTEINER + 19
29 Frank Schleck RED BULL CYCLING TEAM s.t. Player
Stage 2
I sent McCann out first and he took 6 seconds that brought him level with Zabriskie and he also won the first K0M jersey taking the mountain sprint comfortably. Cancellara led the sprint for Sulzberger who went alone with 1km to go, with 500m to go he was passed by Dean and in a tight finish took 3rd- although it only gave me 4th
Itr was quite funny though to see that Gordon Fraser my new canadian sprinter's recovery was Poor after a 6km time trial.
1 Julian Dean CRÉDIT AGRICOLE 2h53'00
2 Oleg Grishkine NAVIGATORS INSURANCE CYCLING TEAM s.t.
3 Robert Förster GEROLSTEINER s.t.
4 Wes Sulzberger RED BULL CYCLING TEAM s.t.
5 Kirk O'Bee HEALTH NET PRESENTED BY MAXXIS s.t.
6 Vladimir Bileka DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM s.t.
7 Heinrich Haussler GEROLSTEINER s.t.
8 Martin Pedersen TEAM CSC s.t.
9 Gregory Henderson T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
10 Wim Vansevenant PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
11 Marcus Burghardt T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
12 Fabian Cancellara RED BULL CYCLING TEAM s.t.
1 David Zabriskie TEAM CSC 2h59'54
2 David McCann RED BULL CYCLING TEAM s.t.
Stage 2 (Ignore the Jerseys, cache needs deleting)
A hilly stage that would certainly effect the overall standings, a break went out front but the real attacks began on the last climb. But before all of this we had lost Jens Voigt, he suffered a puncture but the CSC boys didnt help him and made it worse by continuing to chase the break, and Voigt wasnt exactly going to get back when his companion was Gordon Fraser! At the top of the final climbLobato (Lone escapee) led a group of 11, including Schleck, Brajkovic and Mccartney by just over a minute. A minute further down was Zabriskie, Cancellara and Millar.
As lobato was caught Piepoli attacked and I countered with all 3 of my riders and with 5 km to go Brajkovic had a small lead over Schleck, Mccartney, Piepoli, who were just ahead of Sinkewitz, Rubiera and Vansummeren. McCartney edged closer to Brajkovic just as the sprint began and as Mccartney took the last turn with 2k to go he had passed Brajkovic. Schleck and Vansummeren closed in on Brajkovic and passed him on the line.
Unfortunately, all 7 were given the same time but McCartney had enough time bonus to take the overall lead.
Stage
1 Jason McCartney RED BULL CYCLING TEAM 3h40'28
2 Frank Schleck RED BULL CYCLING TEAM s.t.
3 Johan Vansummeren PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
4 Janez Brajkovic RED BULL CYCLING TEAM s.t.
5 Leonardo Piepoli SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
6 Patrik Sinkewitz T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
7 José Luis Rubiera DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM s.t.
8 Fabian Cancellara RED BULL CYCLING TEAM + 1'39
9 Marcus Burghardt T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
10 Ruben Elvira Lobato SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
11 Guido Trentin SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
12 David Zabriskie TEAM CSC s.t.
13 David Millar RED BULL CYCLING TEAM s.t.
14 David McCann RED BULL CYCLING TEAM s.t.
Overall
1 Jason McCartney RED BULL CYCLING TEAM 6h40'11
2 José Luis Rubiera DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM + 17
3 Frank Schleck RED BULL CYCLING TEAM + 18
4 Johan Vansummeren PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 19
5 Janez Brajkovic RED BULL CYCLING TEAM + 21
6 Leonardo Piepoli SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 27
7 Patrik Sinkewitz T-MOBILE TEAM + 32
8 David Zabriskie TEAM CSC + 1'50
9 David McCann RED BULL CYCLING TEAM s.t.
10 Fabian Cancellara RED BULL CYCLING TEAM + 1'54
11 Remmert Wielinga SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 1'57
12 Nicki Sørensen TEAM CSC + 2'01
13 David Millar RED BULL CYCLING TEAM + 2'02
Stage 4
The 27km time trial could play a decisive role in the tour. Jens Voigt was out early and took the lead, but he was soon beaten by Rubens Bertogliati. Things looked set to change as David Millar immediately took the lead at the midway point, but he was then beaten by Cancellara by 11 seconds and then McCann pulled off a shock taking 3 seconds off Cancellara's time. Brajkovic and Schleck both took top 10 at the first split as McCartney went through third just 7 seconds down which was a superb ride for the inform American.
Attention turned to the finish and Millar came home first, but only in 3rd having faded a little towards the end. Sorenson went 6th and Wielinga was much further down and Next through would be Fabian Cancellara.
He took a whopping 33 seconds of Bertogliati - but would it be enough? No. McCann amazingly managed to hang on to his 3 second lead and Zabriskie couldnt beat McCann either, coming in 3rd, 9 seconds down.
Stage
1 David McCann RED BULL CYCLING TEAM 34'26 Player
2 Fabian Cancellara RED BULL CYCLING TEAM + 3 Player
3 David Zabriskie TEAM CSC + 9
4 Rubens Bertogliati SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 36
5 Brian Vandborg DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM + 38
6 Jens Voigt TEAM CSC + 50
7 Jason McCartney RED BULL CYCLING TEAM + 51 Player
8 Wim Vansevenant PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 52
9 David Millar RED BULL CYCLING TEAM + 58 Player
10 Janez Brajkovic RED BULL CYCLING TEAM + 1'02 Player
11 Ben Day NAVIGATORS INSURANCE CYCLING TEAM + 1'10
12 Stefan Schreck T-MOBILE TEAM + 1'14
13 Nicki Sørensen TEAM CSC + 1'17
14 László Bodrogi CRÉDIT AGRICOLE + 1'18
15 José Luis Rubiera DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM + 1'19
16 Vladimir Bileka DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM + 1'21
17 Frank Schleck RED BULL CYCLING TEAM + 1'25 Player
28 Wes Sulzberger RED BULL CYCLING TEAM + 1'49 Player
Overall
1 Jason McCartney RED BULL CYCLING TEAM 7h15'28 Player
2 Janez Brajkovic RED BULL CYCLING TEAM + 32 Player
3 José Luis Rubiera DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM + 45
4 Frank Schleck RED BULL CYCLING TEAM + 52 Player
5 David McCann RED BULL CYCLING TEAM + 59 Player
6 Johan Vansummeren PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 1'00
7 Fabian Cancellara RED BULL CYCLING TEAM + 1'06 Player
8 David Zabriskie TEAM CSC + 1'08
9 Patrik Sinkewitz T-MOBILE TEAM + 1'59
10 David Millar RED BULL CYCLING TEAM + 2'09 Player
11 Leonardo Piepoli SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 2'16
12 Nicki Sørensen TEAM CSC + 2'27
13 Pavel Padrnos DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM + 2'56
14 Remmert Wielinga SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 2'59
15 Stefan Schumacher GEROLSTEINER + 3'00
Edited by SportingNonsense on 02-04-2007 14:26
I sent McCann out to win the KoM points but stupidly didnt reel him back in and he stayedup front for a long time, when he was caught (With Gil) despite having goen at a slow pace and with plenty of energy lkeft, he was dropped from the back. My attentionts turned to the sprint and Cancellara gave Suzlberger the perfect lead out, Grishkine was the only threat as he was on Sulzbergers wheel but Grishkine just couldnt get round Sulzy so I won.
I viewed the podiums and to my horror Vansummerun had a 2 second lead over McCartney, I couldnt understand until I looked at the race results and saw that the game had given the first 19 minutes a minute over the rest!
1 Wes Sulzberger RED BULL CYCLING TEAM 4h52'02
2 Oleg Grishkine NAVIGATORS INSURANCE CYCLING TEAM s.t.
3 Vladimir Bileka DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM s.t.
4 Robert Förster GEROLSTEINER s.t.
5 Kirk O'Bee HEALTH NET PRESENTED BY MAXXIS s.t.
6 Julian Dean CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
7 Martin Pedersen TEAM CSC s.t.
8 Gregory Henderson T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
9 Heinrich Haussler GEROLSTEINER s.t.
10 Wim Vansevenant PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
20 Fabian Cancellara RED BULL CYCLING TEAM + 1'02
37 Jason McCartney RED BULL CYCLING TEAM s.t.
38 David Millar RED BULL CYCLING TEAM s.t.
40 Frank Schleck RED BULL CYCLING TEAM s.t.
Overall
1 Johan Vansummeren PREDICTOR - LOTTO 12h08'30
2 Jason McCartney RED BULL CYCLING TEAM + 2
3 Janez Brajkovic RED BULL CYCLING TEAM + 34
4 José Luis Rubiera DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM + 47
5 Frank Schleck RED BULL CYCLING TEAM + 54
6 Fabian Cancellara RED BULL CYCLING TEAM + 1'08
7 David Zabriskie TEAM CSC + 1'10
8 Stefan Schumacher GEROLSTEINER + 2'00
9 Patrik Sinkewitz T-MOBILE TEAM + 2'01
10 Tom Stamsnijder GEROLSTEINER + 2'05
11 David Millar RED BULL CYCLING TEAM + 2'11
Stage 6
I tried to get McCartney to win the bonus points but others attacked and were stronger so i sent him back. Of those that did attack Ruben Elvira Lobato
was stronger in the hills and broke clear to take a solo win. SVen Krauss was the only other survivor in 2nd. McCartney attacked near the finish to try and take 3rd placesn bonus seconds and there was a very tight 5 way sprint.
1 Ruben Elvira Lobato SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR 4h06'55
2 Sven Krauss GEROLSTEINER + 1'50
3 Kirk O'Bee HEALTH NET PRESENTED BY MAXXIS + 2'20
4 Stefan Schumacher GEROLSTEINER s.t.
5 Johan Vansummeren PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
6 Tom Stamsnijder GEROLSTEINER s.t. 7 Jason McCartney RED BULL CYCLING TEAM s.t.
8 Julian Dean CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
9 Aleksandr Kolobnev TEAM CSC s.t.
10 Vladimir Bileka DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM s.t.
Edited by SportingNonsense on 04-04-2007 12:33
Omloop Het Volk
The first cobbled race of the season and with Cancellara in America and Omloop and ogels not fully fit yet, Xavier Florencio would be my leader with 72 cobbles. Florencio did well and seemed strong and with 6 sections of cobbles to go he still had Pajovic, Breschel and Kiserlovski - Kiserlovski only has 51 COB so an amazing achievement.
As we went into the 5th to last cobbles section a crash occured.
Only time would tell if it would work.
As the riders left the penultimate sction, Florencio was in an elite group of 11, while further back Boonen and Flecha were trying to catch up. Boonen made it, Flecha didnt and I was soon forced to let Florencio fall behind or risk 4 red bars. Florencio joined Flecha but Flecha edged away during the last few kms.
Up front at the finish Boonen started the sprint and Roger Hammond loked as if he could make it past, unfortunately this was not the case and Boonen won. Here you see my jersey problem
1 Tom Boonen QUICK STEP - INNERGETIC 5h40'04
2 Roger Hammond T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
3 Peter Van Petegem QUICK STEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
4 Magnus Bäckstedt LIQUIGAS s.t.
5 George Hincapie DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM s.t.
6 Andreas Klier T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
7 Nick Nuyens COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
8 Frank Høj COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
9 Leif Hoste PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
10 Stijn Devolder DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM s.t.
11 Vladimir Gusev DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM s.t.
12 Juan-Antonio Flecha RABOBANK + 1'36 13 Xavier Florencio RED BULL CYCLING TEAM s.t.
14 Gert Steegmans QUICK STEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
15 Stuart O'Grady TEAM CSC s.t.
16 Stefano Zanini PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
17 Erik Zabel TEAM MILRAM s.t.
18 Thor Hushovd CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
19 Frédéric Guesdon FRANÇAISE DES JEUX s.t. 34 Matti Breschel RED BULL CYCLING TEAM + 4'54
53 Igor Pajovic RED BULL CYCLING TEAM + 7'10
54 Erki Pütsep RED BULL CYCLING TEAM s.t.
107 Robert Kiserlovski RED BULL CYCLING TEAM + 11'02
131 Juri Metluchenko RED BULL CYCLING TEAM + 13'02
133 Kris Hedges RED BULL CYCLING TEAM s.t.
GP Chiasso
Meanwhile in Switzerland, Karl Menzies and Hayden Roulston led a Red Bull team at Chiasso.
Danilo di Luca attacked on the penultimate lap and with a lap to go led, Roulston had tried and failed to catch up with him and dropped back to support Menzies. Ivan Parra Pinto attacked on the main climb, followed by Sella and Menzies. As it progressed Menzies still had a gap to Sella in 3rd, continuos attacks and the sprint began with them level, unfortunately he hit red and had to settle for 4th. Roulston, Cassidy, Jaksche and Rohregger came home safely in the next group, with Roulston taking 10th.
Rank Name Team Time
1 Danilo Di Luca LIQUIGAS 4h33'45
2 Ivan Parra Pinto COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 1'41
3 Emanuele Sella CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE + 2'03 4 Karl Menzies RED BULL CYCLING TEAM s.t.
5 Ricardo Serrano TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS + 2'51
6 Addy Engels QUICK STEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
7 Andrea Tonti QUICK STEP - INNERGETIC s.t.
8 Massimo Codol ACQUA & SAPONE - CAFFÈ MOKAMBO s.t.
9 Marco Marzano LAMPRE - FONDITAL s.t. 10 Hayden Roulston RED BULL CYCLING TEAM s.t.
16 Thomas Rohregger RED BULL CYCLING TEAM s.t.
62 Timothy Cassidy RED BULL CYCLING TEAM s.t.
65 Jörg Jaksche RED BULL CYCLING TEAM s.t.
68 Matthew Goss RED BULL CYCLING TEAM + 5'33
113 Jukka Vastaranta RED BULL CYCLING TEAM + 9'33Edited by SportingNonsense on 04-04-2007 20:12
Today was my last chance to get McCartney back in yellow, and I was determined. I went with the first attack and took the KoM points, I was caught with 6km to go and attacked again, I couldve done it but had to drink at a crucial moment and only got 5th.
I kept a close eye on any attacks but thankfully there were none so when the next sprint came I again attacked with 5km to go, taking an easy 6 seconds, a good cause for celebration. Unfortunately i gained a red bar and had the whole team protect McCartney for the rest of the stage.
Kroon, Burghardt and Bertogliati launched an attack with a few others who were unable to survive. The break could of done it if it were not for the formidable pace set by Cancellara in leading out Sulzberger - only those in the chain could follow!
Although Cancellara was a great leadout what I really lacked was a 2nd sprinter (Fraser was always dropped too soon to help) and Sulz was forced to sprint about 500m too early and took a tight 3rd.
Kuurne - Bruxelles - Kuurne
The omloop het volk team remains in belgium as they work for Florencio yet again. Boonen broke clear halfway through with teammates Baguest and De Jongh, and created a gap to Hincapie and his teammate White. Later on Hoste went clear with teammate Zanini.
Florencio sat confortably in the next group of 31 until with 15km to go I attacked, it didnt quite work as I hit red in the sprint but managed a strong 9th. Boonen won although he did not sprint so i belive he was energyless.
1 Tom Boonen QUICK STEP - INNERGETIC 5h08'20
2 Serge Baguet QUICK STEP - INNERGETIC + 2'50
3 George Hincapie DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM s.t.
4 Steven De Jongh QUICK STEP - INNERGETIC + 3'56
5 Leif Hoste PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 5'58
6 Matthew White DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM + 7'37
7 Stefano Zanini PREDICTOR - LOTTO s.t.
8 Filippo Pozzato LIQUIGAS + 8'20
9 Xavier Florencio RED BULL CYCLING TEAM s.t.
10 Thor Hushovd CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
GP di Lugano
I decided to follow any move by Di Luca - bad choice.
1 Giuliano Figueras LAMPRE - FONDITAL 3h59'29
2 Ivan Parra Pinto COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
3 Tyler Hamilton TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS s.t.
4 Christophe Rinero SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 1'01
5 Luca Mazzanti CERAMICA PANARIA - NAVIGARE s.t.
6 Eddy Ratti AURUM HOTELS + 1'27
7 Lars Ytting Bak TEAM CSC s.t.
8 José Enrique Gutiérrez Cataluña TEAM LPR s.t.
9 Cristian Moreni COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE s.t.
10 Stefano Garzelli ACQUA & SAPONE - CAFFÈ MOKAMBO s.t.
23 Karl Menzies RED BULL CYCLING TEAM s.t.
Edited by SportingNonsense on 05-04-2007 01:30
Source: www.redbullcyclin...
Headline: McCartney flies to success with red bull!
Jason McCartney, seen above in the livery of his former team secured overall victory at the Tour of California today, to thedelight of his home support.
Jason was a firm favourite with the fans and took victory in the decisive stage to take a comfortable overall lead, after a strong time trial he looked almost certain but a poor judges decision left him +2 down on Johann VanSummerun after a "split" in the peleton, during Sulzy's stage win.
For stage 7 Jason revitalised himself, drunk his Red Bull, and launched 3 seperate attacks before finally winning an intermediate sprint to deservedly regain his lead.
The final stage consisted of 9 laps of the 13km circuit and Jaso had an easy ride home, finishing safely in the pack. Red Bull's sprinter Wes Sulzberger struggled though as the weeks efforts took it's toll.
Redbullcyclingteam.com grabbed an interview with Jason before he flew off to Europe in preparation for Paris-Nice.
Redbullcyclingteam.com: Well firstly a huge congratulations, how does it feel to win the biggest tour in America?
JM: Absolutely awesome! I was just the strongest and fully deserved it.
Redbullcyclingteam.com: Did you doubt you could win at any stage?
JM: Never, I knew I had the ability to claw back those 2 seconds and sure enough, thats what I did.
Redbullcyclingteam.com: Weren't you disappointed with the dubious decision on stage 5?
JM: A little, but things that like happen you just have to get on with it, besides I was far too busy congratulating Wes for his stage victory.
Redbullcyclingteam.com: What are your plans now for the rest of the season?
JM: Well our next priority is Paris-Nice, its important for our sponsors and it is of course the start of the ProTour. After then - who knows?
Redbullcyclingteam.com: Do you think youll be able to get back here in the States at all?
JM: Unfortunbately, I might not get back home til the national championships in June.
Redbullcyclingteam.com: Well thanks for this quick interview, Champagne on the cards tonight?
JM: Of course.
Paris-Nice
Four members of the successful California team reunite in Paris-Nice a 1star sponsor importance race and of coursethe ProTour opener.
Stage 1
A (hopefully) perfect start for Cancellara and Millar.
Here we see Cancellara chasing down Millar's time, he takes 4 seconds at the first split and 4 more at the finish to take an unasailable 8 second lead. Schleck went on to beat Millar at the first split but faded. McCartney was up last and took a brilliant ride for 4th. (Only 72 TT!)
11 Vladimir Gusev DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM + 20
12 Joost Posthuma RABOBANK s.t.
13 Luke Roberts TEAM CSC s.t. 14 Frank Schleck RED BULL CYCLING TEAM s.t.
15 Brett Lancaster TEAM MILRAM + 21
16 Laurent Brochard CRÉDIT AGRICOLE + 22
17 Sylvain Chavanel COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 23
18 Francisco Perez Sanchez CAISSE D'EPARGNE s.t.
19 Kurt-Asle Arvesen TEAM CSC + 24
20 Alexandre Botcharov CRÉDIT AGRICOLE + 25
21 David Cañada SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
22 Vincenzo Nibali LIQUIGAS s.t.
23 Aleksandr Khatuntsev UNIBET.COM + 26
24 Adam Hansen T-MOBILE TEAM s.t.
25 Patrice Halgand CRÉDIT AGRICOLE s.t.
41 Matti Breschel RED BULL CYCLING TEAM + 29
42 Kris Hedges RED BULL CYCLING TEAM + 29
So, Cancellara, Millar and Voigt took the first ProTour points of the season. Tomorrow in the sprints we will see a lead out train of Cancellara, Breschel and Downing.
Stage 2
An early break didnt come to much, but the small climb towards the finish would ruin my hopes as Breschel managed to gain ared bar, cutting my train down to 2 and DOwning had to settle for 7th.
Stage 3
More climbs towards the end ment Breschel had gone and Downing was only just hanging on to the back of the peleton. Cancellara, instead of leading out - attacked with 8km to go and was able to sprint to 9th.
Stage 4
A group of 4 escaoed early including Oscar Pereiro.
The real action didnt began until the last climb at which point a group of 37 had formed behind the break, Schleck and McCartney were there but the rest were further back.
The attacks begun but I waited a little before attacking and at the top Di Luca had a lead over Boogered and then there was a small gap to a group of 7 including the 2 red bull riders.
Di Luca hung on for victory.
Overall standings:
1 Danilo Di Luca LIQUIGAS 14h13'19
2 Michael Boogerd RABOBANK + 31
3 Jason McCartney RED BULL CYCLING TEAM + 59
4 Frank Schleck RED BULL CYCLING TEAM + 1'10
5 Patrice Halgand CRÉDIT AGRICOLE + 1'16
6 Davide Rebellin GEROLSTEINER + 1'17
7 Philippe Gilbert FRANÇAISE DES JEUX + 1'25
8 Matthias Kessler ASTANÁ + 1'26
9 Björn Leukemans PREDICTOR - LOTTO + 1'33
10 Jens Voigt TEAM CSC + 2'30
11 Vladimir Gusev DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM + 2'40
12 Laurent Brochard CRÉDIT AGRICOLE + 2'42
13 Sylvain Chavanel COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 2'43
14 Alexandre Botcharov CRÉDIT AGRICOLE + 2'45
15 Vincenzo Nibali LIQUIGAS s.t.
16 Luis Leon Sanchez Gil CAISSE D'EPARGNE + 2'46
17 Thomas Dekker RABOBANK + 2'48
18 Remmert Wielinga SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR s.t.
19 David Moncoutié COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE + 2'50
20 Rubens Bertogliati SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR + 2'51
33 Fabian Cancellara RED BULL CYCLING TEAM + 4'20
35 Linus Gerdemann RED BULL CYCLING TEAM + 4'37
70 David Millar RED BULL CYCLING TEAM + 8'41
80 Russell Downing RED BULL CYCLING TEAM + 10'08
122 Matti Breschel RED BULL CYCLING TEAM + 19'47
165 Kris Hedges RED BULL CYCLING TEAM + 1h02'34
Edited by SportingNonsense on 05-04-2007 14:55
I am giving up on this.
Reasons:
1. Game is being crap and PPDB seems to be the problem
2. I got fed up with the huge amount of races
3. Hardly anyone commented on this
